The Wrong Dark Lord
by Caitie Riddle
Summary: There was once a girl who was best friends with a boy named Tom. Their friendship was an accepted fact of life at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The headmaster was an idiot, Binns' class was boring, Evan and Tom were rarely seen without the other. What happens when events beyond their control tear them apart. Tom is ooc.
1. Trade-Off

"Tom! Tom, come on already! We don't have all day." A beautiful, dark-haired girl was dragging her abnormally tall friend by his arm to the courtyard.

"So where to today?" The tall youth inquired. He was used to his friends antics. They had known each other for six years and she was just as passionate and energetic as she was as a mischievous first year.

"Just around the grounds. It's a beautiful day and I don't intend to waste it." She said with a bright smile. It was an oddly good day. New Years was a few weeks ago and the students of Hogwarts were granted a reprieve from the cold as a warm front settled over the grounds.

The girl dragged Tom over to the very edge of the grounds, mere feet away from the wards surrounding Hogwarts. The girl stood as stiff as a rail and abruptly fell backwards onto the ground, emptying her lungs of oxygen on the way down. Tom rolled his eyes at her behavior.

"I still don't understand why you do that. You could simply lower yourself onto the ground without the risk of a bruised backside."

"Should I be concerned about your attention to my backside?" she asked innocently, but smirking victoriously at the sight of Tom's blush.

He stammered embarrassingly before the girl decided to take mercy on the poor boy.

"Oh come off it Tom, I'm only teasing." she said grinning up at the boy towering over her.

He rolled his eyes and deliberately lowered himself gently onto the ground next to her.

He sighed contently. "This is nice."

The girl moaned in agreement. The sun was warm on their skin and a faint breeze ruffled their hair.

Suddenly the girl shot up, completely alert. "What do you think happens if you step outside of the wards?"

Tom groaned in annoyance. 'I swear a kneezle has a larger attention span.' He propped himself up on his elbows and watched as his friend inched closer to the wards.

"If I tell you this is a bad idea will you listen to me?"

She actually seemed to consider what he said, but he was not surprised by her response.

"No, probably not." With that she disappeared from sight as she stepped over the wards.

Tom scoffed, "Of course not." and plopped down and closed his eyes. He lasted twelve seconds before he groaned and got up to go after his friend.

"I swear that one day I'm going to leave you to your own stupidity." he said as he stepped over the wards surrounding Hogwarts.

"Well hello." Tom's eyes widened as the scruffy looking wizard was revealed. What was even more alarming however was his wand pointed at his friend's head as he held her in a headlock.

"Tom run!" she screamed. Her eyes were frantic, darting to Tom, the wand pointed at her, then Tom again.

In the coldest and deadliest voice he could muster "Let her go." Slowly, so that he didn't tip the older wizard off, Tom slipped his hand into his robes and wrapped his fingers tightly around the handle of his wand.

The wizard noticed unfortunately.

"If I see a wand, she's dead before you say a single spell." he said. to emphasize his point he pressed his wand into her temple hard enough to elicit a wince of pain.

Grudgingly, Tom let go of his wand and drew his hand out of his pocket where the other wizard could see it.

"What do you want?" Tom growled.

The man sneered "Why I want her of course. I need an heir and she'll do nicely."

Stamping down the beginnings of panic, Tom asked as calmly as he could "Why would you need an heir?"

"You mean you don't recognize me? Of course you don't. Old Dumbledore, trying to shield his students from everything the world throws at them." the man said with obvious contempt for the professor.

Tom's eyes widened in horror. "Grindelwald."

The man's self-satisfied smirk made Tom want to hex him into oblivion.

"Ah so you have heard of me. Well as much as it pleases me to meet a fan I really must be off."

Just before the dark wizard could apperate with the terrified girl Tom called out "Wait! Take me!"

Grindelwald turned to Tom "Oh really, and what can you offer me that she can't?"

"I'm at the top of my class." He said although he knew that he wouldn't care.

"Sorry not interested." he said.

Getting a little desperate, Tom used the only bargaining chip he had.

"My mother's maiden name is Gaunt, she was a direct descendent of Salazar Slytherin!"

He seemed only slightly interested, but Tom could see the greedy gleam in his eyes. He got him.

"I suppose I could take you as my apprentice and heir instead."

Tom swallowed his fear and stared stoically at him. "Let. Her. Go."

With a scoff Grindelwald shoved the girl to the side. He reached out and snatched Tom's arm. His grip was so strong that Tom had to bite down on his cheek to stop himself from crying out.

"Well I guess its time that we leave." as soon as Grindelwald finished talking they apperated away.

The last thing Tom heard was his best friend screaming his name as he was taken away from the one place that he considered home.

"Tom!"


	2. Tom Riddle and Voldemort

"Tom!"

Harry Potter shot out of bed. His messy black locks were plastered to his head with sweat and his breath was ragged. He grabbed his glasses from the small table next to his bed.

He threw off the blankets and padded to the staircase to the Gryffindor common room. He grabbed the Muraders Map to avoid any teachers on his way to Dumbledore's office.

The coast was clear and he walked across the castle to the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the headmaster's office.

"Acid pops."

The stone gargoyle spun around and revealed the staircase. He took the staircase up and right before he knocked on the door he heard a voice from the inside.

"Come in Harry."

Shaking off his amusement at the headmaster's uncanny ability to tell exactly what was going on at all times he entered the office.

"Ah Harry my boy. What seems to be troubling you?" said the wizened headmaster. His eyes were twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles. He was still dressed in his day robes, powder blue with silver tassels.

Harry briefly considered just telling the headmaster that it was nothing, just a false alarm, but then he remembered the terrified look on that girl's face and the way Tom's hand was clenched so hard that they turned white when he saw Grindelwald holding her.

"I had a dream and I think it's a memory." Harry said. "There was a girl there. She had dark hair and blue eyes and she was wearing Gryffindor robes."

"Ah. I believe you are referring to Miss Evangeline Whitney." Dumbledore said as he opened a drawer in his desk. He found what he was looking for and placed it on his desk and beckoned Harry to come look.

There was a picture of the girl from his dream. She was smiling at the camera and turning to laugh at whatever her companion had told her. Harry's eyes widened as he saw that her companion was none other then Lord Voldemort.

He was telling her something and smiling at her. His arm was thrown over her shoulders and he seemed genuinely happy.

'No.' he thought 'This is Tom Riddle, not Voldemort.'

He glanced back up at the professor and seeing Harry's confusion Dumbledore decided to explain.

"There were certain accepted truths about Hogwarts. Tom and Miss Whitney were one of them. They were the best of friends. They met at Kings Cross. Miss Whitney was on her way to the platform when she came across Tom. Her parents had left her there and Tom had walked to the station from the orphanage by himself. She helped him find the platform and they shared a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. When they got to the castle and were sorted Tom was sorted into Slytherin and Miss Whitney into Gryffindor. They didn't care about house rivalries and the student body just learned to accept it."

He sighed. "Tom disappeared in the middle of his sixth year."

Harry's head perked up in interest.

"We found Miss Whitney just outside the wards trying to get in. We asked her again and again what happened, but she just kept telling us that she didn't know. Tom returned in the beginning of his seventh year, but Evangeline did not. Tom was different, darker. No one knows what happened, just that Tom Riddle disappeared and Lord Voldemort returned in his place."

Harry pondered this in his head. It was safe to say that he was shocked. He thought that Tom had just been evil. He had given no thought to if he was ever just another student.

He had a question about the story. "But Professor what happened to Evangeline?"

The twinkle seemed to disappear from his eyes. "I don't know Harry. No one does."

T.M*T.M*T.M*T'.M*T.M*T.M

Harry plopped down on the bench at the Gryffindor table. Hermione looked at him in concern while Ron was oblivious, more interested in stuffing his face then paying any attention to his friend.

Wrinkling her nose in disgust, Hermione turned her attention to Harry who had taken to shifting his food from one end of the plate to the other.

"Long night?" she asked. She spooned some fruit on to her plate while keeping a carful eye on her friend.

He grunted and ate the sausage that he had been playing with since he sat down.

"I had a dream last night." he said before taking another bite of his breakfast.

Hermione's eyes widened in fear when she interpreted what he meant. However Ron was not as observant.

"Well mate it was just a dream. Don't see what you're so upset over." he said before shoveling more food into his mouth."

Hermione rolled her eyes at the lack of intelligence and concern Ron was showing, but continued to eat her breakfast, sensing that Harry it wasn't the time or place. Harry though, didn't seem to agree with that sentiment.

"It was about Tom Riddle while he was at Hogwarts."

Hermione sighed, but put her fork down and readied herself for another day with no breakfast.

"There was a girl with him, she was a Gryffindor. They were walking along the wards when the girl crossed over them. Riddle followed her and saw her with Grindelwald. He had her in a chokehold."

He either ignored or didn't notice Hermione's horrified gasp.

"It was awful. He was so angry and scared for her and she was terrified. Tom made Grindelwald let her go; in return he had to go with him instead."

Hermione was trying to wrap her head around the amount of information Harry was providing them.

"Harry, you need to tell—"

"Dumbledore?"

At her frantic nod he continued.

"I already told him. The girl's name was Evangeline Whitney, she and Riddle were best friends. Dumbledore said that she wouldin't tell anyone what happened and that no one has seen her since the end of her sixth year. Riddle came back for his seventh year and he was darker. Apparently Tom Riddle left and Voldemort took his place."

Hermione was left speechless while Ron continued to stuff his face, oblivious to whatever Harry was accounting.

Harry sent a frosty glare at the red-headed boy. Did he take anything he said seriously anymore?

He sighed and reached into the pocket in his robes and pulled out the picture of Tom and Evangeline that Dumbledore had let him keep. He silently slid it across the table to Hermione.

She gazed wide eyed at the picture. It was the first time she had ever seen a picture of Tom Riddle while he went to Hogwarts and it was impossible to think that that carefree and happy boy became one of the darkest wizards in history.

Harry noticed her struggle to equate the two, so he told her how he managed.

"It's easier to think of them as two separate people."

Hermione looked at him in confusion.

"Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort."

Her eyes lit up in understanding and she handed the photograph back to Harry.

He safely tucked the picture in his pocket and stood up.

"Come on, we need to get to get to Potions." he said as he grabbed his bag.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "I still don't agree with using that book." she said.

Harry groaned. "Hermione it's a textbook not a bloody weapon."

She sighed, but let the subject drop. It was pointless anyways, Harry was always to stubborn yo listen to reason.

They left Ron in the Great Hall and hurried to get to their class.


	3. We're Going on a Horcrux Hunt

Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat in a circle as they tried to think of ways to find the remaining Horcruxs. They already got the locket from Umbridge, but they had no idea how to destroy it.

They had no idea where or what they were. It was frustrating and destroying any hope they had at defeating Voldemort.

Hermione suddenly sat up and rushed over to their bags. The two boys watched perplexed as she grabbed Harry's and searched through the pockets.

"Umm Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Hmm."

"What are you doing?"

"I am trying...to find that...blasted— Ah hah! Found it!"

She hurried over to the boys and placed a picture in front of them. It was of Tom Riddle and a dark-haired girl.

"We need to find her." she said, pointing at the girl in the picture.

Harry's eyes lit up then dimmed again.

"How? Nobody's seen her in almost sixty years."

Ron decided to add in his two cents.

"Umm who exactly is she?"

Hermione resisted the urge to facepalm. She remembered when Harry told her this, Ron was busy stuffing his face full of breakfast sausage and fried eggs!

Sensing Hermione's annoyance, Harry took over the explanation.

"Her name's Evangeline Whitney. While she was in Hogwarts, she and Tom Riddle were friends." he said.

"She probably knows him better then his most trusted followers. She probably knows how to find and destroy the Horcruxs!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yes, but we have no idea where she is." Harry said, pointing out the major flaw in that plan.

Hermione adopted a guilty face, and Harry knew that he wouldn't like what she was about to say.

"Well we don't, but You-Know-Who or Tom Riddle might."

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. Hermione was always telling him to keep Voldemort out of his head, and now she was asking him to purposely dive into his mind.

"Alright, you're barmy. Come on Harry, lets try and find a sane plan to defeat You-Know-Who." Ron said, obviously ignorant to the steely glare that Hermione was sending in his direction.

Just as she opened her mouth to give Ron what was probably a seething tongue-lashing, Harry shocked them both.

"I'll do it."

He was honestly curious as to who Voldemort was when he was just Tom Riddle.

Hermione immediately began to tell him that he didn't have to and that it wa just an idea and that it might not work, but Harry was firm. He said that he would do it and so by Merlin he'd do it.

"Allright so I'm going to go take a nap. It's easier to see his memories when I'm asleep."

"Wait now?" Hermione said. It was her idea, but now that it's actually happening, she was nervous.

"No point to wait." Harry said. He stood up and made his way to his cot.

Hermione gulped, but nonetheless led a confused Ron out of the tent to give Harry some privacy.

Steeling himself, Harry closed his eyes and followed the link in his head to one of the most feared wizards in history.

 _It was a busy day at Kings Cross Station. There were juggles everywhere on the morning commute. Tom Riddle was getting a few odd looks from the people due to his age and the large trolly he was pushing._

 _The matron at Wool's Orphanage just left him there and he had no idea where to go. The ticket was no help. All it did was point him to a nonexistent train on a nonexistent platform._

 _His eyes began to water and he furiously wiped away the frustrated tears that trickled down his checks._

 _"Are you alright?"_

 _Tom spun around to face the young girl behind him. She had long dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. She had a healthy tan that could only be achieved with hours out in the sun. What intrigued Tom the most though, was her large trolly that was nearly identical to his own._

 _"Umm yes I'm fine." He said loping down so that he didn't have to meet her eyes._

 _"Oh that's good. Is this your first year at Hogwarts as well?"_

 _Without looking up, he nodded his head._

 _"Well I don't know anybody yet. Can I sit with you on the train?" she asked._

 _Tom looked at her in shock. Nobody ever wanted to sit with him. All the kids in the orphanage avoided him._

 _He enthusiastically nodded his head up and down. The girl giggled and told him how to get on the platform._

 _"You see the column between 9 and 10?" at his nod she continued. ''I know it seems odd, but you need to run through the column."_

 _Tom looked at her like she was crazy._

 _She rolled her eyes and started running towards the column. Tom was about to shout at her to stop, but she reached the column. Instead of crashing into it like Tom thought she would, she disappeared._

 _He blinked and rubbed his eyes, but she was nowhere to be seen._

 _He took a deep breath and followed her through the column onto Platform nine and three quarters._

 _Once he made it through he looked around in amazement. Parents were saying goodbye to their children, there was a shiny red and black train, there were cages filled with toads, rats and cats._

 _The girls allowed him a moment to take everything in before drawing his attention._

 _"Come on! We need to get a compartment." she said, successfully snapping Tom out of his reverie._

 _As they walked towards the train the girl realized she had forgotten something._

 _"Oh how silly of me. My name's Evangeline Whitney, but you can call my Evan. What's your name."_

*If you can't tell by now, I really don't like Ron Weasley


	4. Finally

The memories went like that for a good week before Harry finally got anything of value.

Apparently Evan had a house in her name that she kept a secret from her parents. She told Tom that she would always consider that place her home.

The trio packed up camp and apperated to the woods surrounding the house.

"Harry are you sure about this? I mean, it looks like it's been empty for years." Hermione asked.

Harry rolled his eyes. He knew that her questions were well founded, but it was frustrating.

"Hermione I don't know how to explain it, but I just know that this is where she is." he said.

Hermione nodded, but he could still see the doubt she was feeling.

"Ahhhh screw waiting!" Ron bellowed.

He loudly stomped through the remainder of the wood to the front of the house. He had been wearing the locket all day and it was amplifying the bad mood he was in which also made him very impatient.

"Ron stop!" yelled Hermione, but it was to late.

Ron pounded on the door to the run down house. He was yelling at the top of his lungs to get the attention of the occupant.

Suddenly the door swung open.

"What the bloody hell do you want!"

Standing in the doorway was a young woman, probably around 18 or 17, she had long dark hair that reached just below her shoulders and piercing blue eyes.

Harry stopped right behind Ron and started at her in shock.

"Evan?"

The color drained out of her face and she bolted into the house. Hermione rushed past the boys and tackled her to the ground before she could make it too far.

"What do you want with me?" the girl cried out.

Harry broke out of his revere and left Ron in the doorway.

"Evan?" he asked in astonishment.

The girl stiffened underneath Hermione. Her eyes were wide and her face had drained of all color.

"How did you know?" she whispered.

Hermione let the girl up slowly, as though she were a frightened animal. She got up on trembling knees and faced Harry fearfully.

"What do you want with me?" she repeated.

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the photograph of her and Tom. He handed it to her and waited.

She took the picture and looked at it. She got a little teary-eyed as she laughed in the picture at whatever Tom was saying.

"He was telling me about a couple of third years who played a prank on the Herbology professor." she said after a moment. She looked back up at the trio in her doorway.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

Harry stepped forward and told her in the firmest voice he could muster.

"We need your help."

"So let me get this straight." Evan said as she sat down in a chair in her restored sitting room.

"You want me to tell you how to find these horcruxs so that you can destroy them and eventually kill my best friend."

Harry cleared his throat nervously.

"Umm yeah that about covers it."

Evan looked at him in disbelieve.

"Why the bloody hell would I do that?" she screeched.

During the conversation, Ron's face had steadily gotten redder until it settled on a nice shade of fire engine red. He finally exploded.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S YOUR BEST FRIEND? HE'S THE BLOODY DARK LORD!"

Ron was cut off from any further outbursts when he was ejected from his seat and forced against the wall by an unseen force.

Evan got up from her seat and stalked towards him until she was maybe two inches away from his face. Then in a deadly whisper that sent chills down the trio's spines, she said.

"Tom Riddle was the most loyal, protective idiot I've ever known. He gave himself up to a Dark Lord so that he'd let me go. He was my best friend who was there for me when nobody else was. That kind of person doesn't just do a complete 180 and become a cowardly, selfish, manipulative Dark Lord in a year."

She abruptly released Ron from the wall and he went crashing to the floor. She whipped around to Hermione and Harry, who were sitting gobsmaked at the great display of wantless and wordless magic preformed and the unspoken threat that lingered in the room.

"There is more to this then you think. That monster out there is not Tom. Grindelwald did something, I don't know what, but if I can find out what then maybe I could help." she said. She spoke with such conviction that Harry couldn't help, but believe her a little.

"I'll help."

Hermione was staring him in shock. He could practically her shouting at him, asking him what in the world he was thinking, but all he could see was the desperate way Tom Riddle told Grindelwald to take him instead of this woman standing in front of him.


End file.
